Follow the Butterflies
by WeGotWinx
Summary: In the end, Natalia was happy she listened to the old woman. Post-game. Sad. Written for Twilight PhoenixFyre/Kairi.
1. The Old Woman

_I know. I haven't posted anything in forever. Sorry._

_This is a very sad story. The inspiration for it was just as depressing._

_It's one week from being a year to the day that my best friend's father died. Her mother was on her way to work this morning and a psychic medium friend of the family stopped her with a message, said that Eldon was watching them and learning to use butterflies to communicate. Kairi told me about it a few hours ago, and she told me of two instances where she broke down (the first time, she found a dead butterfly which she decided on a whim to keep, since its wings were in good condition, and the second, she was distract from her frustration by a large swallowtail). This story was born of that._

_This has two (very short) chapters, both of which I'm posting right now. Also, this story assumes it was Luke who returned at the end, not Asch._

_I'd tell you to enjoy it, but, like 'To Disappear,' it's a bit sad for that._

* * *

**The Old Woman  
**

The old woman is tired.

It isn't a new feeling. She's felt tired for more years than she can be bothered to count. So she sits down on the stairs and takes a few minutes to breath. It usually helps.

"Are you alright, ma'am?"

The elder looks up, and smiles at the worried face in front of her. Young, and dressed like nobility, but still genuinely worried about a tired old woman. "Yes, dear. I'm just tired," she says. The girl... no, the elder stops herself. The young woman relaxes.

"I can carry your bag for you if it's too heavy."

The elder lets out a small laugh. "Ah, it's fine. I just need to rest for a bit. But humor an old bag of bones, if you will. What's a young lady like yourself doing down here on the lower levels of Baticul?"

The woman sighs, and sits next to the elder. "My cousin is getting married next week. I should be happy for him, but..."

The elder nods. "I see. And you've no one to turn to yourself, eh?"

The woman pushes blonde hair behind her ear. "He's... in Grand Chokmah. And... Father still hasn't made up his mind on whether to accept his proposal."

The elder nods again, then pauses as something starts to tickle at her mind. The feeling becomes stronger and stronger the more she tries to ignore it, and she sighs. "Someone has a message for you, child," she says. The blonde looks at her in surprise, and the old woman smiles sadly. "I'm a medium, dear. I usually pass on the messages anonymously, but someone is being very insistent."

The woman looks hesitant, but she nods. "Alright."

"The messages come in series of images that make no sense to me, but which are easy for the recipient to interpret," the elder warns. Then she takes a deep breath, and stops blocking the tickling feeling. "A dying fire. Ashes. A bloody sword. An island... Hod, I think. The sun setting over the ocean," the woman says slowly, a pause between each image she describes, before she gasps lightly. "A path of butterflies," she whispers. "I haven't seen butterflies since..."

"Since?" the young woman asks, her voice close to breaking. It seems the message means much to her.

The old woman smiled sadly. "Since my father died when I was eighteen."

The blonde gasps, and then looks away, unable to hold those knowing hazel eyes any longer. The elder hums.

"A path of butterflies... I know what that one represents," she says after a while. "When you need guidance the most, look around. More often than not, there will be a butterfly nearby to set you back on course. But the blue butterfly, especially. If it seeks you out, follow it. For it is also a messenger."

The blonde looks up at the elder after a few moments, and a shaky smile crosses her lips. "Thank you."

The old woman smiles back and stands, slowly, picking up her bag. "I'm always happy to pass on the messages of those beyond our reach. Thank you, child, for listening."


	2. The Gorgonhod Swallowtail

_Gorgonhod Swallowtails are canon in the TotA-verse. It's the butterfly Anise tries to follow off a cliff in Tataroo Valley. (Okay, not quite, but close enough.)_

* * *

**The Gorgonhod Swallowtail**

"Congratulations, Luke, Tear."

The redhead smiles and wraps an arm around his new wife's waist. "Thanks, Natalia."

Tear smiles as well. "Yes, thank you."

Natalia nods and walks over to one of the tables in the corner of the courtyard in which they have set up the reception for the wedding. She watches for a while as Jade, wearing something other than his uniform for once, and then Anise, who has recently taken over the Order of Lorelei as Fon Master, both give the married couple their own congratulations.

She stands as the sun lowers in the sky with the intention of going over to Lady Suzanne to talk about her son's marriage, but pauses when something blue flutters in her peripheral vision.

"_When you need guidance the most, look around... there will be a butterfly..."_

The old woman's message has been true. Twice in the past week, Natalia has found herself overwhelmed. By the wedding the first time, and by the court the second.

Both times, she has watched a butterfly flit into sight and then away again, and each time, she has found her course quickly. But when she sees the blue Gorgonhod Swallowtail, her stomach leaps up into her throat.

"_...the blue butterfly... is also a messenger."_

Natalia doesn't bother to look around. She simply starts walking, her feet leading her out of the manor, then out of Baticul altogether before the butterfly comes to rest on a wildflower. It's then that she realizes that she's standing on a very familiar cliff, Baticul a magnificent sight to her left, and past it...

"While I admit the view of the sunset from here is gorgeous, isn't it a bit dangerous to be out here unarmed?"

Natalia turns to see Guy in shock, the sudden movement startling the butterfly back into flight. When its path takes it around the two blondes before it disappears into the sky, Natalia smiles and turns back to the sunset. Guy frowns and steps up to stand next to her.

"You know... I don't think anyone noticed us leave. If we head back now, I don't think anyone will realize we left in the first place."

Natalia giggles a bit. "Maybe." Her eyes are watering.

Guy slips an arm around her waist. "I talked to your father again last week."

"And?" Natalia isn't sure she's ready for the answer, but she asks anyway.

Guy is quiet for a moment. "Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear... Will you grant me the honor of ruling this country by your side?" he asks, slipping his right hand out of his pocket and holding out the ring box.

Natalia's tears break loose, but as she smiles, Guy relaxes a little. "Of course... Of course..."

The two share an intimate moment, one that Natalia hopes she'll never forget, and then the Gorgonhod Swallowtail is back, flitting around them and making the princess giggle and grab her fiancé's hand. "Come on!" she cries happily, chasing the butterfly back to Baticul. Guy laughs at her enthusiasm, but doesn't bother to point out how childish she's being.

It's been too long since he's seen her smile like this, and he isn't going to take that away.

The butterfly vanishes around a corner on the lower levels of Baticul, and Natalia and Guy pause when they see the small crowd gathered around an apartment building. Natalia's smile disappears in confusion.

"Excuse me, sir? What's going on?" she asks the nearest man. He looks down at her sadly.

"There was an old woman in this building. Nice lady. She took a tumble down the stairs a little while ago, though. The medics are... Oh no," he trails off as the door opens.

The medics come out carrying a stretcher, but the body is covered by a blanket, and Natalia holds a hand over her mouth when it slips, because the elderly medium's face is still burned in her mind.

Guy wraps an arm around her and leads her away.

Two weeks later, a small, leather-bound book lands on the desk in her room, with a red ribbon sticking out the top near the back. Natalia opens it and looks at the words written on the page in surprise.

_It was so clear, the dream. My father, just as I remembered him when I was growing up, and that polite, concerned young man... But then I woke up, and I realized it was no dream at all._

_I've left a note with this journal, Natalia, to make sure it reaches you, because I'm sure I won't have the time to find you myself._

_Asch says he's happy for you, and grateful that you were willing to hear out a crazy old woman._

Natalia bites her lip and smiles, closing the woman's journal and sitting down to cry for a while. Guy walks in after a few minutes and sits down with her, wiping the tears away as best he can.

Neither of them notices the Gorgonhod Swallowtail on the windowsill, nor do they see it fly away, back off into the sky.


End file.
